Slither.io guide to snake murder when the lag's got you down

Don't let lag in Slither.io get you down. If you play it right, you can do even better than when the servers are stable.

Lag is the catch of the day every day so far in Slither.io but you don't need to get it get you down. Don't give up in frustration when the servers are so laggy you stop and start moving every half-second--use the lag to your advantage instead!

It may seem impossible to use the game's gimpy servers to your advantage, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Those measures being changing the way to play based on how laggy the game is.

If you can learn how to play well when the servers are so laggy it hurts, you can easily get your highest scores yet. I reached my personal best, over 58,000 in size, this weekend and the lag is downright awful. Nonetheless my average (non-early death) finishing sizes are much higher (20,000+) than normally (12000+).

Gimme some o' them snake guts.

There are two types of lag Slither.io is currently riddled: graphical and server.

Graphical lag is caused by your hardware (phone, tablet, or PC) not being powerful enough to run the game well. You can tell it's this by whether or not the game slows down when you're near a bunch of snakes, large snakes, or when snakes boost.

Server lag occurs when the servers are too full and/or your ping is high. The more players there are, the harder the servers have to work. The game's current servers are under massive load.

You can tell this is the issue when the game stops and starts repeatedly, even when in an empty area. Other snakes will sometimes move jerkily and seem to often run straight into other snakes for no reason, and it takes a half second or so for your movements to happen.

This guide is going to focus on playing with server lag, which can be pretty awesome if you know what to do. There is no adjusting how you play for graphical lag because you are the only one experiencing it--while server lag affects everyone else on the map.

I do my best when the servers are at their worst. Not because I'm amazing (I am) but because most people don't know how to handle themselves when playing a game with high ping. You always need to think two steps ahead, and it's not all that hard.

There's a little extra time to think between actions when the servers are lagging. You're lagging, you hate it. But everyone else is going through the same thing and hating it, too. So what should you do?

This is even more important when playing during heavy lag. Since the game is chugging, take the time to look around for:

I'd boost to get these normally, but not during periods of intense lag.

This snake tried to boost away but was too laggy to maneuver away safely despite having plenty of time too.

Part of what makes playing with lag fun is how much trouble other snakes have controlling themselves and staying alive, but the real fun lies in using it to your advantage.

You need to keep in mind that all of your actions are going to have a delay. Some delays are longer than others, but the fact remains that most of your movements are not going to happen right when you want them to. You have to turn or boost about a half second before you actually want to do it, in order to turn or boost at the right time.

Think of it as more a strategy than action game when the lag really is through the roof. You have enough time to think a bit before you have to react, which means if you get the timing down you can play even better than when the game is lag-free.

Kills are several times easier when the servers are laggy if you pre-emptively move. Other players can't predict your moves as easily during these times and because of the input delay, it's harder for them to react to you if you're being aggressive.

4 of these 5 snakes died a few seconds later. Spoilers: I killed all but the tan one. He just lagged into another snake.

Once you have the timing down and can control yourself well with the input lag you can be exceedingly aggressive when under 3000 size, provided you protect yourself by turning in circles every once in a while to give yourself somewhere save to put your head if you get ganged up on. Many players have no idea how to maneuver themselves to safety when another snake is boosting around their face

It is very true you can be super aggressive during lag, but there are some ways in particular you need to play it safe in order to survive.

Boosting here got me killed, and it'd probably kill you too.

This way you can eat in peace.

This advice isn't rock-solid, but it's definitely something to keep in mind considering my average scores during times of high lag compared to periods with reasonable ping.

There are more opportunities to kill and snag particles during these times because other players are in the same boat as you--which means you need to outplay them to succeed. Outplaying them is pretty much as simple as moving with the input lag in mind.